


Holiday Cheer

by Phanfictionhoe



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Christmas, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, but not really, well enemies on Dan’s side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 21:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phanfictionhoe/pseuds/Phanfictionhoe
Summary: “Dan is used to spending a quiet December in, quietly refusing to buy into the consumer capitalism that is Christmas. Phil is new to the apartment and won't stop being the physical embodiment of Christmas cheer.”Or Dan hates Christmas and Phil teaches him to love it by being the sweetest person alive.





	Holiday Cheer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elmcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elmcat/gifts).



> I really enjoyed writing this fic, this is my first time doing an exchange and I really liked it. I hope you enjoy. Also thanks to my beta reader (lilactressinwinter on Ao3 and phinalphantasy7 on tumblr), I would have totally failed without you.

It was an average Saturday morning for Dan. He’d fallen asleep at four in the morning, practically passing out on the couch after playing Guild Wars 2 and drinking copious amounts of ribena.

 

It was around two hours later that he was awoken from his sleep by a loud crash. Dan bolted straight up on the couch, tensing up when he realized that he had a crick in his neck from the uncomfortable couch.

 

He rubbed at the sensitive muscles for a moment before he realized that something must have woken him up.

 

He quickly realized what it was as it happened again, a loud crash. This time he noted that it was coming from the apartment next to his own.

 

“What the hell is someone doing making all that noise at six in the morning,” Dan said out loud to the empty room.

 

When nobody answered, _thankfully_ , Dan decided that he should probably go and investigate the source of that obnoxiously loud noise.

 

Not even caring that his hair was a mess and he was wearing pajamas that had mysterious stains all over, Dan slipped on his slippers and trudged angrily out his front door and to the door of his neighbor’s flat.

 

As he pounded on the door, Dan realized that he had yet to meet this neighbor. Well, to be honest, he hadn't met many of his neighbors in the three years that he had been living here. But this wasn’t necessarily a case of Dan avoiding confrontation and social interaction (yet). This particular neighbor had moved in quite recently. Barely even a month ago.

 

Dan was brought out of his thoughts by the door in front of him being pulled open, revealing his new neighbor that he already hated because he woke Dan up with unnecessary noise.

 

This neighbor was a man, about as tall as Dan himself, with black hair styled in a quiff. He was extremely pale, likely spending most of his time indoors much like Dan. And he was wearing the most ridiculous pajama pants Dan had ever seen.

 

Emoji pajama pants. Just another reason for Dan to hate him.

 

The man on the other side of the door smiled and greeted Dan with a hello and an outstretched hand.

 

“I’m Phil, Phil Lester.” He continued to hold his hand out for Dan to shake. Wanting to avoid confrontation, Dan accepted the outstretched hand and replied with an introduction of his own.

 

“My name is Dan Howell, I’m your next door neighbor.” Dan said, not wanting to start yelling at this guy quite yet.

 

“I know. Wait, that sounds creepy. I swear, it’s not. It’s just that I’ve seen you a few times in the elevator and in the hallway. But every time I tried to talk to you you would run away,” Phil said, the smile slowly fading away as he spoke.

 

Dan cringed inwardly. He hadn’t even noticed Phil, he usually just avoids all of his neighbors. He decided to defend himself by relaying this to Phil.

 

Before Dan could open his mouth, Phil’s smile came back and Dan suddenly forgot why he was even there. Hell, he even felt the beginning of a smile on his own face.

 

Which almost never happens before noon.

 

Dan suddenly remembered why he was on his new neighbor’s doorstep and his almost-smile dropped quickly.

 

“Is something wrong,  Dan?” Phil asked, noticing Dan’s quick change of moods.

 

“Yes, as a matter of fact there is,” Dan crossed his arms over his chest in a (failing) attempt to look menacing. “What the hell do you think you’re doing making so much noise at six in the morning? Some people prefer not to be woken up by loud banging noises.”

 

“Oh dear, sorry about that. I was just decorating for Christmas!” Phil exclaimed, obviously excited.

 

“What the fuck. It’s barely December 1st, it’s nowhere near time to start decorating,” Dan replied, getting even more annoyed.

 

“But it is December 1st, which means it _is_ Christmas time.”

 

Dan rolled his eyes in annoyance, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed.

 

“Well try not to make so much noise. And a word of advice, maybe don’t start moving shit around so early in the morning. Try the afternoon, most people are usually awake by then.”

 

Dan didn’t wait for Phil to reply as he turned and made his way back to his own apartment to go back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

It was a few days after the “decorating incident” as Dan liked to call it in his head, and thankfully there hadn't been any more loud noises disturbing his sleep.

 

It was two in the afternoon and Dan had spent yet another night not sleeping and instead playing a lot of Guild Wars 2.

 

He was still asleep on his increasingly uncomfortable, couch and not being a productive member of society.

 

Dan was once again awoken by a loud noise, causing him to roll of the couch and onto the floor with a groan.

 

However, this time the offending sound was coming from his front door.

 

It had better be a fire or something or Dan was gonna kill whoever was behind that door.

 

When Dan finally stood up and made his way over to the door, looking around to see if he had to find a place to hide a body, he found Phil.

 

Dan resisted the urge to groan, and instead tried to seem as friendly as possible as he greeted his neighbor.

 

“Hello Phil, what can I do for ya?”

 

“Hey Dan, I know we may not have gotten off on the best foot the other day, and I noticed that you didn’t already have a wreath on your door, so I took a chance and bought you one.” All of Phil’s words came out kind of fast and it appeared he was blushing as he held out the offending object.

 

It was quite a pretty wreath. It was small and a beautiful light green color. It had little poinsettias spread over its surface along with artificial cranberries and pine cones.

 

If Dan enjoyed Christmas in the slightest then he would probably love the gift. But because he couldn’t stand the holiday, he didn’t love it.

 

“No, thank you.”

 

Phil’s eyebrows went up in shock and his blush deepened.

 

“Crap, you do already have one then, don’t you.”

 

“No, I just don’t like Christmas,” Dan replied softly, looking down at his feet, waiting to be judged and ridiculed the way he always was every time he told someone about his hatred of Christmas.

 

However, when the taunting didn’t come, Dan looked up to see Phil with his mouth hanging open.

 

“I can’t believe it. You poor thing,” Phil patted Dan on the shoulder and looked at him like he had just told Phil that his cat had died.

 

His look of pity and sadness quickly changed it to a great big smile.

 

“I know, I’ll help you learn to love Christmas. It’ll be like _A Christmas Carol_. You’ll be Scrooge and I’ll be all of the ghosts.”

 

“Woah, I don’t need or want any of this. I’m completely ok with not liking Christmas.”

 

Phil just gave him a deadpan look and crossed his arms across his chest, wreath and all.

 

Dan sighed and asked a question he already knew the answer to. “You’re not gonna leave until I take the wreath, are you?”

 

Phil just smiled and handed him the wreath, turning to go back to his own apartment.

 

As Dan shut the door and threw the wreath onto the couch, he realized that this wouldn't be Phil’s last attempt to get Dan to love Christmas.

 

And for some strange reason, Dan was almost excited about what was to come.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a week later and Dan hadn’t seen or heard from Phil once.

 

If he was honest with himself he was a bit disappointed. Christmas was quickly approaching and he still wasn’t enjoying the season.

 

It was one of the few times when Dan would leave the deep dark depths of his apartment and brave the outside world.

 

He had practically been dragged out of his apartment by Bryony, who was probably his closest friends and one of the few neighbors he dared to associate with.

 

Despite knowing of Dan’s hatred of the holiday season, Bryony dragged him along to help her shop for Christmas presents.

 

After scouring far too many stores for Dan to count, the pair decided to sit down and grab some lunch at a coffee shop.

 

Bryony took a drink of her coffee, then focused all her attention on Dan.

 

“What?” Dan asked, a bit frightened by the look on his friends face.

 

“Have you met the new neighbor?” She asked in a tone that suggests she already knows the answer.

 

“Phil, yeah, why?” Dan asked with caution.

 

“No reason, he just seems like a really sweet guy,” she took another sip of her drink. “Ya know he gave everyone on our floor a Christmas card with a personalized message.”

 

“He didn’t give me one...” Dan said, a bit irked at the thought of Phil leaving him out.

 

Bryony just hummed noncommittally, “Maybe he just knows you don’t like Christmas.”

 

The thought of Phil giving up on him irked him even more. He didn’t think that Phil was the kind of guy to just stop caring about helping someone.

 

Especially when it comes to Christmas.

 

Dan couldn’t stop thinking about it on the ride home.

 

He just stared out the window at all the Christmas lights and smiling faces, wishing that was him smiling and laughing, enjoying the holidays.

 

As the taxi pulled up to their apartment building, he helped Bryony with her bags and helped her to her apartment.

 

“I know you hate Christmas, but you can’t hate Christmas cookies.” She said as she handed him a little box full of gingerbread cookies. “I made a ton for work and still had some left over.”

 

Dan could never turn down food, no matter how festive, so he quietly thanked her for the cookies and left to go to his own apartment.

 

When he reached the door he realized that it was unlocked, and hoped that he had just been dumb and didn’t Lock it before he left rather than there being a serial killer ready to guy him and eat his internal organs.

 

He held on tightly to his only weapon, a tiny (broken) wand from Harry Potter World on his keychain and slowly opened his door.

 

He quickly dropped his (useless) weapon on to the ground in complete shock.

 

What he found behind the door was not a serial killer.

 

Instead he found his apartment completely decorated for Christmas.

 

It was beautiful and not at all tacky. There was a theme of shades blues and silver.

 

There were stocking hung up on the mantle of Dan’s (scarcely used) fireplace, which was lit for probably the first time since he moved in.

 

There were little snowflakes and stars hung upon the walls and ceiling.

 

But what was the most eye catching was the tree. It was sat in the middle of the room and was silver and had white lights that twinkle along to soft Christmas music. It also had baubles of varying sizes and shades of blue.

 

Phil emerged from behind the tree in a silly looking Christmas sweater with a cactus on it.

 

Dan immediately loved it.

 

“Merry Christmas Dan.” Phil said with a bright smile.

 

Dan couldn’t help but to throw himself into Phil’s arms.

 

Phil grunted at the impact, but quickly wrapped his arms around Dan, returning the hug.

 

Dan felt himself start to tear up and pulled back from Phil to wipe his eyes.

 

Phil’s smile dropped when he saw Dan’s tears, “Oh no, do you hate it. I’m so sorry, I just really wanted to help because I like you so mu-“

 

Dan shut him up with a kiss. It was quick, but immediately the best kiss he had ever had.

 

He pulled back and rested his forehead against Phil’s.

 

“I love it, it’s just that no one has ever done anything like this for me before.” Dan said.

 

Phil kissed him once again before pulling back and asking, “Do you want some hot chocolate?”

 

* * *

 

The two were cuddled up on Dan’s couch watching what Phil deemed, “The best Christmas movies of all time, in order.”

 

Dan leaned his head on Phil’s shoulder and pulled the blanket around him tighter, they were currently watching _Home Alone_ , when Phil turned to look at Dan.

 

“So, how do you feel about Christmas now?” Phil asked him.

 

“I think it might be growing on me just a little...” Dan couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Well, I guess I’ll have to try even harder next year.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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